{"id":2878,"date":"2014-12-08T17:03:01","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T17:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/?p=2878"},"modified":"2014-12-08T17:09:20","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T17:09:20","slug":"the-quiet-people-make-presentations-introverts-presenting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/the-quiet-people-make-presentations-introverts-presenting\/","title":{"rendered":"The quiet people make presentations… introverts presenting!"},"content":{"rendered":"
In colloquial parlance I\u2019m an extravert. I have no difficulty working in groups, with people, in crowds or on stage. Heck, my job requires me to stand on stage in front of groups of strangers and talk to them. A lot.<\/div>\n
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But in terms of the work of Carl Jung I\u2019m an Introvert (practically of the scale I\u2019m so sure of it). That is to say, I get me mental energy – and prefer to spend that same energy – in the world inside my own head. \u00a0I recharge my batteries by withdrawing from the world. Sometimes that\u2019s literally, by going off on my own somewhere and other times it can only be metaphorical if I\u2019ve got to spend time in a crowded building.<\/div>\n
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There are times when I get off stage and yearn for the quiet of my car to drive off to my hotel so I can \u2018decompress\u2019. I come off stage exhausted and yearning for some time to just let. the. world. \u00a0slow\u2026 down… I need a cup of tea and a shower (though not at the same time, obviously! ;) )<\/div>\n
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So why do I do it? \u00a0Why would I willingly do something that\u2019s so emotionally hard it can make me physically react like that?\u00a0Is there an advantage to being an introvert on stage that makes up for not \u2018liking\u2019 to be there?<\/div>\n
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I think there is. And I think it\u2019s this.<\/div>\n
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I don\u2019t care about my audience.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Well obviously that\u2019s not true, I care about them a lot, but you know what I mean: I’m not beholden to them for my mental energy. But there is one specific way in which I don\u2019t care about them, in which I\u2019m \u2018immune\u2019 to them. \u00a0And it\u2019s this…<\/div>\n
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I\u2019m more interested in my ideas than in my audience. My energy on stage is independent of them. I can give the same level of performance for four people as for 14, 40 or four hundred. \u00a0 I know, I\u2019ve done them all. \u00a0The\u00a0actual\u00a0performance isn\u2019t the same, obviously because of the different logistics, but the energy<\/b> levels are – because the energy comes from inside my head. I don\u2019t feed from my audience – and that gives me a huge advantage as a speaker…<\/div>\n
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Another\u00a0(perhaps less obvious) advantage, is that it\u00a0means I don\u2019t (even subconsciously) hesitate about saying it like it is: if the logic and evidence is on my side, I\u2019m not inclined to worry too much about the \u2018politics\u2019 of what I\u2019m about to say. \u00a0You pay for an expert, so you get an expert, not an expert-hedged-around-with-ifs-and-buts. \u00a0Obviously I\u2019ll be polite (hey, it\u2019s not your fault you\u2019re wrong, that\u2019s what pay me for!) and I\u2019ll check out any new facts you bring to me, but the chances of that, frankly, are slim! ;)<\/div>\n
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So what can we\u00a0take away from this? \u00a0How do you use the introvert’s-advantage?<\/div>\n
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Well firstly<\/strong>, don’t walk away from the opportunity to make your point – to make your presentation – just because you’re not naturally inclined to be the centre of attention. Remember that your audience aren’t<\/strong> the most important thing… your ideas are. What you’ve got to say is more important than anything else.<\/div>\n
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Secondly<\/strong>, if you’re an introvert, ignore all the (well-meaning but stupid) advice about how to rev yourself up and get ready to perform. Instead, find yourself a quite space to get your head straight before you’re on stage. \u00a0Go to the toilet and sit quietly in the stall if that’s what takes! ;) \u00a0 \u00a0Or take a short walk outside.<\/div>\n
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Whatever it takes!<\/div>\n
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As\u00a0a personal aside,\u00a0I’ve even been known to take someone with me to liaise with the venue so that I can have that all-important time to myself before I start a big presentation.<\/div>\n
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Thirdly<\/strong>, remember that – if you’re an introvert – you should consider finding your ‘performance mask’. \u00a0 What’s a performance mask? It’s a persona, it’s a person, a reality that’s both you and not you – but ‘channels’ all the things you need to be on stage. \u00a0Think of it like this – as soon as Bruce Wayne puts on the mask, he ‘becomes’ Batman. The mask has a life of its own – a performance mask, if you like. Now obviously, Bruce Wayne isn’t exactly the shy retiring type but the principle remains: the mask has it’s own life.<\/div>\n
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Fourth and finally<\/strong>… You might find it easier to put on this mask (it’s a metaphorical mask, I’m not suggesting that all introverts dress up to make presentations looking like a superhero!) if you have a routine before you start your presentation. I use a checklist to make sure my logistics are all taken care of and the process of going through that checklist is a ritual of it’s own for me now – but your ritual should be your own.<\/div>\n
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In colloquial parlance I\u2019m an extravert. I have no difficulty working in groups, with people, in crowds or on stage. Heck, my job requires me to stand on stage in front of groups of strangers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-presentation-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2878"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2888,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2878\/revisions\/2888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awareplus.co.uk\/presentation-skills-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}